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So I want to buy some good headphones for my digital piano, I'm currently using Creative Aurvana Live, I'm happy with them but they can't handle digital piano well. What is my best choice? It would be good that they'd be not too expensive but better than Aurvana.

I am curious about your claim that they do not handle digital piano well. Can you elaborate on this a bit ?

Sure, it just means sound is good but not very good, but mostly the problem is that sound is getting distorted a bit by playing certain notes and cords loudly. Strange, but I had oportunity to test this on another pair of the same headphones and it was the same, didn't spot this on other headphones.

Probably resonance of some sort. The same type of headphones should have almost the same frequency response, thus similar results. Other types should and will sound different.
I had the same problem with my headphones (but not Aurvana), when I listened to 2 different e-pianos. On both pianos same notes were ringing more than others.

Aurvana are afaik quite good and can be modded to even better results. Maybe You could try to mod them before buying other pair. Or after

I have no idea about modding headphones, what are you talking about? The only thing I heard of in case of Aurvana is that you can(and maybe should?) change cable but that's all I know, there is more that can be done to improve sound quality and eliminate distortions?

Don't waste your time with cables for that type of issue, it will not solve that type of thing. As said you could be some sort of resonance condition and indeed at some frequencies some headphones just have some problem areas where they don't respond well at some frequencies.

Some vocals I find are a very good test which can be quite harsh. The likes of Birdy, Thom Yorke with just piano and voice in acoustic setup, their voices can be a real challenge for many a can and show problem areas where their voices sound cleaner in some phones over others. I find those two artist are great test beds for that.

Change of cables usually don't change much the resonances.
But in many hp You can add (or remove) some dampening material inside, make (or cover) some holes etc.
This will change the frequency response.

OTOH I bought recently quite inexpensive Superlux HD681B and they're very good for the price.
They're probably the OEM versions of PreSonus HD7 - check them out

How much money do you want to spend?

Here is a post by CNet about the best Audiophiliac headphones available today: http://www.cnet.com/news/the-audiophiliacs-top-10-full-size-headphones-for-2015/

This is their opinion and maybe does not apply to digital pianos!

The Sennheiser HD598 is a great bargain for a nice sounding but not too expensive piano headphone. It's also really well padded and comfortable. I think they're around $150?

I often use them for hours at a time without getting any kind of pain around my ears.

Otherwise if you to spend more than that there are lots of options like the HD600, HD650, etc etc.

Are people really paying that much for a headphone?

I recently aquired the Sony MDR-1A which is the little borther of the MDR-Z7, for less then €200 on a sale.. really made my day, as they sound just as good as the Z7 thats on this list..

I'm not sure how much I want to spend yet, but I think it's not very hmm "efficient" to pay more than 150-200$ for home usage headphones so I think that might be my border unless someone will convince me otherwise. Anyway I was looking into this HD series from Sennheiser but it would be best if someone has some headphones actually tested on digital piano. In any case we will see what other propositions will come up.

You really can't go wrong with PreSonus HD7 and they're like 40$ today, as I see.
Plus maybe few $ extra for velvet earpads
http://www.head-fi.org/products/presonus-hd7-professional-monitoring-headphones/reviews/13485

Well, I have the Sennheiser HD555 and they seem fine to me.

I'm currently using my HD595 with my N1 and I like it. It does make the piano sound slighter darker due to an emphasis on the upper bass and low registers, whereas the piano built in speakers emphasize the tinny upper register, but overall it works well.

It sounds much better than out of the piano speakers.

I love AKG 271 Mk IIs for digital piano usage. They come with velvet-esque pads (as well as faux leather ones), so I find them comfortable for long-ish periods.

They come with two different lengths and types of headphone cable - one coiled, the other longer and just straight.

With an impedance of 55ohms, I find that I set the volume output of my digital pianos at the same level for both headphones and speakers, so I don't need to mess with the volume control, when I occasionally play on speakers.

To me there's little to no obvious base enhancement, so seem to give an accurate representation of the sound from my digitals - I only use them for digital piano playing, I wouldn't necessarily choose them when just listening to music, generally.

The best is going to vary a lot based on your needs.

Do you want to hear whats going on around you? Closed backs block exterior sound but they change the imaging so you have to choose one or the other.

Do you prefer over ear, on ear, or in ear. What is your budget etc.

So I'm going to list several headphones each that do what they do very well.

Sony MDRV6 $70 - Professional recording, music production, and monitoring headphone. Closed backed doesn't leak sound. Inexpensive, comfortable, good imaging for closed back and warm with only slight bass emphasis.

Beyerdynamic DT990 $190 - Audio enthusiast open backed headphone with superb imaging and very neutral sound with slight emphasis on upper treble without too much sparkle or sibilance. My personal choice for piano playing along with the more expensive Sennheiser 650's.

For most people, the best headphones for DP are the ones you like best for listening to music - your kind of music.

I own several pairs of headphones and earphones that I use with portable devices, laptop, hi-fi, and with my DP. And I rank them in the same order of preference regardless of what I'm using as the source.

If you're looking at Sennheiser phones, I have (and like) the HD280. It's "closed-back" -- it blocks a substantial amount of ambient sound. Some people like that, some don't.

The pads are thick enough to keep the phones off your ears. They're sweaty in hot weather, but not uncomfortable.

The HD380 might be better, according to some people here. It's more expensive.

I also use Shure SE215 "in-ear monitors" (= high-class earbuds). They sound as good as the HD280's.

The Sony MDR 7506 is a classic, and costs about the same as the HD280.

None of those phones has trouble with resonances, IMHO. They're all pretty smooth.

The presonus recommended a couple of posts ago is a rebranded superlux hd-681b / samson sr850 that I have recommended myself on some other threads on this very topic. They're very inexpensive, yet deliver amazing quality for the price, some comparing them sound-wise to much more expensive headphones.
Maybe you should give them a try it you can find any of the models named above. Include the samson sr950 (closed-back) as well. They're all in the 30-40$ range.
As always, I'm curious what other people have them think, especially if they got to compare them to expensive models from big brands.

I want the best sound so definitely over ear and I dont care about exterior sound, I want to be immersed

I've got the presonus ones and upgraded to a a decent pair of Shure SRH840 ($200 headphones) and honestly it's not even close. I went back and listened to albums I haven't in years because I was picking up whole new things that I'd never noticed before by listening with high quality headphones.

whatever you do, don't immerse the headphones.

Any headphone you feel good when listening to music is enough. What you need is to take care of is the input impedance of the headphone. It must match with the output of the digital piano. My digital piano headphone out is too powerful and my headphone is too low in impedance, as a result I have to turn down the volume of the digital piano while introduce poor sound quality!

If you experience the same, you can either buy a headphone with high impedance (Something over 50ohm), or buy a volume control adapter to chain it up in between. The output volume of digital piano set to middle and use the volume control adapter to tune the volume you feel right to hear.

OK that's interesting, might be the case. Aurvana has 32 ohm and for example SENNHEISER HD 380 PRO HD380 has 54 ohm.

Thanks for the feedback andrewjcw, I was very interested in hearing somemething like this, since on head-fi and other forums there were people who said they prefer their moded hd681b over the AKGs after which they are made.
I know I'm very pleased with the hd681 evo that I have and the SR950 which I listened to extensively and that I much prefer them both over some dj cans (ministry of sound ixos dj1003) which were around 100 euros a couple of years back, but I never had the chance to compare them to good monitoring headphones.
Maybe a couple of years from now I'll be willing to take the plunge for 200+ euros headphones and I'll know better, but till then, for around 30-40 euros I'm very pleased.

Never looked into this, allways asumed there was a standard for stuff like this...

So there you have it again, asumption is the mother of all frackups...

Yes it can be a compatibility problem. Overload problems with low impedance headphones and insufficient volume with high impedance phones. A headphone pre-amp will solve this problem, but it's extra expense, extra clobber and a reduction in quality, since you have an 'unnecessary' extra stage of electronics.

In my experience, open back headphones work better for piano. I recently purchased a Roland HP605, and my Grado SR-80s sound extremely transparent (like I feel the need to check I actually plugged them in) whereas the other headphones I have are closed-back design and sounded much worse. This surprised me because these other headphones are more expensive and sound great with music.

In the many many threads on this topic that I've read, the number one recommendation has always been the AKG K702.

The only problem that most people face is the fact that they require quite a bit of power to be driven well. Otherwise, they sound congested. So a powerful headphone amp is required.

I concur. I love my HD598 headphones and I am very happy with their reproduction of a pure piano. Very comfortable headset with a fashionable wood grain look. I play a Kawai CA95 ; advanced intermediate player.

The Sennheiser HD598 is a LOT of headphone for its $150 price. Very musical, very comfortable.

I'll also throw in my vote for the Sennheiser HD598s. They are an excellent value, and they pair extremely well with a good digital piano. I bought these headphones specifically for use with my FP-7F.

If the HD598s are too expensive, I'd still recommend sticking with any good pair of open-back headphones. I also have a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones, and while they are absolutely amazing for listening to many types of music, they do not sound nearly as good as my Sennheisers when they are plugged into my FP-7F. The sound-stage of open-back headphones plugged into a good digital piano makes me feel like I'm sitting in a concert hall.

The best will vary by budget.

Under $200 Beyerdynamic DT990

$300-$500 Beyerdynamic DT880, Sennheiser HD600 for neutral sound or HD650 for one of the sweetest midranges you've ever heard (price changes a lot. As low as 300, as high as 500)

The current "best" are going to be HD850's which will run a couple grand.

Those headphones are almost universally accepted as good.


There are also planar dynamic headphones which some people love, and some people don't. They do fast transient response and instantaneous, tight, bass very well. They have an almost electrostatic quality to them but they do not hide flaws, bad music in equals bad sound out. You will hear every flaw in your piano samples for instance.

On the low end Hifiman HE400's are pretty good, I love mine but they fatigue my hearing after long sessions.

On the high end Audeze LCD2 is hard to beat but very expensive.


I own all of these headphones and my consistent go to headphones are the HD650 and HE400 planars. The HD650's neutrality, transparency, imaging, and increadible midrange would make for great piano headphones. They are very musical and make anything you play through them sound good.

That being said, I will probably use my DT880's when I get my Arius delivered next week since my 650's are dedicated to my listening station and I'm using a tube amp with them.


Feel free to ask about other headphones I own and I can tell you my subjective experience and good and bad for them

DT880
DT990
Custom One Pro
HD650
HD600
HE400
Grado SR60i
Sony MDRV6
Q701 (Quincy Jones model)
Shure SE-215 (best in ears I own. Very transparent and better than multi drive Sennheiser IE80's)

I also have the SE-215. It's very good. With the available triple-flange ear tips, you really are isolated from the outside.

And you can carry them around in your pants pocket.

And heres me thinkin o paying up to £40. . .my current ones are nearly 20 years old and cost me a fiver. . .

I use comply foams and love the sound and fit. I bought them to combat a serious problem with loud car stereos in my neighborhood. IEM's usually have bloated bass, bad midrange, and no sound field but the 215's were really good. Better than the Sennheiser IE8's which cost 3x as much.

I wouldn't recommend them for piano headphones simply because they block outside noise too well, can't hear the phone, and it makes your head space feel closed. Open or semi open circumaural would be the best in my opinion.

Are there any headphones which improve the rather poor stereo aspects of some (perhaps most) dps? I miss my ole Yamaha from years ago that had this. . . .

What you're refering to is imaging or sound space. It's how well a headphone reproduces the sound stage of the source material. Good sound stage means that instruments in a mix have a definitive point in space and individual instruments in a song aren't all smooshed together. This doesn't so much widen the stereo field as it does make the sound appear to come from all around you instead of in between your ears.

In general, open backed headphones will have a better sound stage and imaging than closed back or IEM headphones. IE it's more like listening to a good set of loud speakers rather than the sound coming from inside your head.

There are some closed back headphones and IEM's which have surprisingly good imaging but they still can't touch a fully open headphone like HE400's.

Guys, you're obsessing about coil resistance.

Very low ohm's can possibly have a side effect of you hearing the noise floor of an amplifier. This is usually only a problem with IEM's and then mostly on very high gain amplifiers which is why high end amps tend to have a gain switch.

Q702's have a colored midrange but if it floats your boat more power to you. I think the Beherdynamic DT880 or DT990 are a better buy for that money or the HD650 if you can find it on sale.

Low ohm headphones are preferable if you're plugging directly into a piano because they will tend to allow the amp to deliver more power. This isn't an endorsement of low impedance being louder than high impedance because there are also things like efficiency and db per mv response. A very efficient and responsive driver might work well even if it has a higher impedance, but the amplifier will deliver less power the higher the headphone impedance. The only exception to this is OTL tube amps which you will not find in a digital piano so it's a moot point.

So if the headphone you're looking at has several impedances, get the lower one if you can for direct plugging into the piano. For instance DT880 600ohm isn't quite loud enough on my Arius. DT990 250ohm is. 32ohm would be even better.


Other than that, mostly you care about headphone impedance in terms of matching to your amp. If you have a tube amp with OTL output, you want as high ohms as you can find. If you're using a modern solid state amp you will generally want a lower impedance. If you're not using a dedicated headphone amp, you want even lower impedance.

I found the DT880 on sale for $160, usually it's over $300. Very good headphone http://www.ebay.com/itm/Beyerdynami...00904?hash=item4d3abf5aa8&rmvSB=true

I bought the 650 and I love them. I bought them thru amazon from a company in Amsterdam. they are phasing them out but they sure work well for DPs.

What about the new Sennheiser Orpheus

A bargain at only 50,000 Euros!

Agree. I absolutely love the HD650. Very complimentary to most digital pianos. Amazing with VST pianos where you can really get a sense of how good the soundstage is with these headphones. You can clearly hear the nuances and behaviors of an acoustic piano that the sound and software engineers intended for you to hear.

Just keep in mind that they are open back so best when used in a quiet environment. I like to give them a little push with a simple Rolls HA43 amp -- perfect!

I have a pair of the Sennheiser HD650's and I love them for piano practice.

The Orpheus is several years old and still considered by many to be the best headphone in the world. The new Orpheus was just announced and demo units were sent out last week and it's even more improved. The amplifier uses marble that comes from the same quarry that Michelangelo used for some of his statues. The tubes withdraw into the amp when not in use and powering it on causes all the controls and tubes to extend out. The final output stage of the elecrtostatic driver is built into each headphone cups. As John Hammond would say "Spared no expense".

My HD650's are my main headphone with my HE400's being a close second. However, without sufficient amplification I find the 650's mids to be slightly veiled. I use it with a Schiit audio Lyr 2 4 watt hybrid tube amp and it really opens up and starts to sing.

I honestly thought that this was an elaborate joke at the expense of the hi-end audiophile community. Turns out to be true, according to Sennheiser's site. We live in a truly weird and wonderful world.

THE best?

These: http://www.ultrasone-headphones.com/en/products/signature/signature-pro

Of course they're expensive as an unchaste mistress, though at least worth the $$ more than similarly priced brands. (See "pro audio" vs "audiophile".) And a pair of Pro 900s can be had for under $500, which isn't bad considering the cosmic jump in quality from other stuff in that price range.

Used to have Pro 900s, did a bunch of my work at Kurzweil on them, loved them. Now I have a pair of Signature Pros... and all I can say is they would make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window.

If you guys are ever at a trade show, be sure to swing by their booth and check 'em out.
(That's the practical purpose for this reply.)

Sound is a matter of preference and for many in the audiophile community the Orpheus is the best sounding headphone in the world. For the overwhelming majority of the rest, it's one of a very small number of headphones in competition for best sounding headphone in the world.

The sheet of material that is deflected to produce sound is the thinnest in the world and has almost no mass, allowing for near instantaneous response and the electrostatic mechanism moves the entire mass at the same time, VS a dynamic cone driver which only moves at the voice coil, and the rest of the driver rides along with it at a slower rate.

I confess, those of us who work in the music industry roll our eyes a bit at the audiophile community. We do appreciate nice design, marble and tubes, etc. But it's just a little silly.

Pro audio gear usually yields better practical results for far less $$ than audiophile stuff. Also (and this is important) audiophile gear is meant for commercial music, albums that have been mastered. A signal from a DP/synth is a raw instrument signal, best suited for a pro audio listening rig meant to handle that kind of signal. Trust me on this.

Also you could take the money you'd spend on those Orpheus cans and use it instead to buy a nice boat. And then you'd be able to post a thread here about finding a nice piano for said boat.
https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...oosing_a_Sailboat_Piano.html#Post1976938

Totally agree, I think decent studio level stuff makes the best choice for use with an instrument, and also disagree with this guff you read from some about using the same headphones for normal music listening, as you would when playing a digital piano.

My listening priorities are different when I'm actually playing a piano, compared with just listening to already recorded / mastered music. When I'm playing the piano, I just want what I'm hearing to be as undiddled with as possible, rather than some "warm" or "rich" audio profile from some headphones that are more about pleasing a demographic.

An admirably restrained response.
Yes. It's exquisite, beautiful and - let's admit it - desirable.
If only there were a category of Nobel Prize for finely crafted understatements.

I used to represent a keyboard manufacturer on forums, like my esteemed colleagues Mike Martin and Kawai James do (with greater skill and aplomb than I ever had). "Admirable restraint" was a necessary skill.

I'm a bang for your buck type audiophile. I find my sweet spot is <$1000. As much as I would love to own a set of electrostatic headphones, or even a fine dynamic like the HD800's I find $500 headphones with a $500 amp to be sufficient to make me very happy. And even the amp I could have skimped a little bit, but I wanted something future proof so I don't have to buy another amp for dynamic headphones, ever.

I agree there is a lot of snake oil and sillyness in the high end audiophile world and I'm not really interested in headphones and amps as objects of art. And I agree about pro audio being less expensive than audiophile while delivering a similar level of performance but there are differences. Take something like a Bitfrost DAC, which has not just one of the best DAC chips on the market, but an analog output stage that makes no compromises, and it's going to sound noticeably better than something like a Behringer USB console, or an M-Audio or Presonus USB DAC. And where as the pro gear goes for things like good driver support, ASIO low latency and configurable audio routing etc as well as the ADC stage and having very clean mic preamps; The audiophile DAC's have no ADC and are purely devoted to the clean and artifact free conversion of digital signals, to analog signals and the analog signals leaving the analog section have high headroom, a high voltage 4v RCA or balanced output stage to reduce interference on the way to your amplifier, and lots of headroom (prevents clipping or compression of the audio signals dynamics).

I'll risk being put into the stocks here for blasphemy. I have two pairs of phones, I think they cost about £80, and I've tried out more expensive ones in store, and irrespective of the technical jargon and "performance" I find I can't wear them above a few minutes because of overheating ears. Anyway, a while back I decided to try plugging in my JVC in ear sports phones and found those to be much more comfortable, plus they only cost about £4!!. I'm not sure what would happen if I turned the volume up full but for my late night practising they are great.

JVC SPORTS PHONES

There may be better sets around.

Lots of input for you! Some is good...

Let's try a few generalities:

1). It's easier to get good sound from an open-back headphone. Only choose a closed back if you're: using it as a recording monitor, or you don't want the person next to you to get pissed off.

2). Any headphone that's better than the one you're used to will sound GREAT!

3). Getting a noticeably better sound usually means doubling the selling price: $50, $100, $200, $400, $800, $1600. You get the idea. If somebody were to sell a $50 headphone that beat the $1000 headphones, the market would react. It hasn't, so it's bullshit. (See Generality #2)

4). For pianists, we tend to be THE most exacting critics of sound reproduction for acoustic piano. For AP, you want the best you can afford. For gigging musicians who play 'exposed AP parts' and use active PA speakers for amps, the rule of thumb is to expect to pay as much for the amp as for the keyboard. (These are the brands you can't buy at Guitar Center) Especially if you are using a high-end VST (I use Ravenscroft) this has been designed to sound unimaginably great in really high-end stereo systems. Your headphone or speakers are most likely the weakest link in the sound chain.

5). Yes, there are real subjective differences in listening via headphones and speakers, but understand if you want to hear detail in a recording or a VST you can get much much 5-10 times more bang for your buck by buying a really good headphone. (BTW, you get a really good headphone for three or four hundred bucks, and the powered Turbosound speaker I use for gigs lists at $3600.)

6). No, your computer doesn't have the world's greatest and most powerful headphone amp. Use your google skills to look for headphones that are reasonably EFFICIENT. This is not automatically determined by input impedance.

7). If you spend a little more on headphones now, you get to use them for listening to everything else! Win-Win.

Why is there no "like" button?!

Funny, I was just reading up on a buyer's guide for digital pianos, and it led me to a guide they did for the best studio headphones. Their list is pretty comprehensive, thought I'd share:
*spam deleted by moderator*

larklark, may I ask if you have any affiliation with that website?

Nah, no chance

Hmmm... do you think there's a chance equipboard.com receives revenue from Amazon affiliate links?

Nah, no chance

James, I think equipboard.com got into your attic

Hey, hands-off!

Nobody touches my MP8II!

I have HD650. They are very good for listening to music but as for me cheap Philips SHP5401 are better for playing piano.

Whoa...necroed from the dead this one is

It is worth to look for SHP5401 at eBay. They are cheap and really great for piano.

I'm in love with my Sennheiser HD 202.
It is very cheap because it is very studio oriented. These aren't for listening to music on the street. Therefore they are not that sturdy, but for use with a piano they offer the best sound in this price range.
Also it has a three meter cable, which might just be the best feature it has. I hate a cable hanging between my arms and the piano. I can lead this cable around the piano in a hundred ways and so I am a lot more free in my playing!